The present invention relates to a bar graph displaying method for displaying a bar graph of statistical data and operating the bar graph in a personal computer or the like and to a program storage medium of the method.
Conventionally, a bar graph has been utilized for visualizing the tendency and distribution of large-scale data comprised of individual information that has a plurality of attributes. For example, FIG. 15 is a table showing the population under age 65 and the population of age 65 and over as the result of a national census, indicated by the districts. The table shows the distribution of the population with regard to the specified age group under 65 and the age group of 65 and over, on the basis of the age attributes owned by the individuals. FIG. 16 shows a bar graph of the contents shown in FIG. 15. Likewise, FIG. 17 shows the population under age 15 and the population of age 15 and over as the result of the national census, indicated by the districts. FIG. 18 shows the distribution of the population with regard to the specified age group under 15 and the age group of 15 and over. The bar graphs of FIG. 16 and FIG. 18 visualize the distributions of ages in the bar graph by the districts while concurrently instinctively displaying the overall tendency, and this is excellent in terms of representation of information.
However, in order to display the bar graph shown in FIG. 16 or FIG. 18, there has been necessitated the procedure of preparatorily executing totaling and averaging by means of table calculation software or functional calculus using the constituent elements of the table as an argument, forming the bar graph making table shown in FIG. 15 or FIG. 17 and then forming the bar graph on the basis of the above table. That is, in order to change the contents of display of FIG. 16 to the contents of display of FIG. 18 or to display the bar graph by an age group other than 15 or 65, there is necessitated the procedure of once restoring the data from the bar graph state into the original tabular format representation to execute again the statistical processing and then remaking the bar graph. Therefore, when representing the properties, tendency and distribution of specified attribute values and the like of a large amount of data by means of a bar graph, it is required to execute an operation on the tabular format and the calculation of the total, average and the like in order to change the display of the bar graph by varying the distribution and component ratio of an identical subject. This has led the problem that the contents of display of the bar graph cannot be changed by directly operating the representation by the bar graph.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a bar graph displaying method capable of easily displaying a bar graph in which the bar portion is divided into two regions without requiring the user to perform calculation of the totaling or the like of a large amount of data as well as a program storage medium of the method.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a bar graph displaying method for classifying a set of elements having a plurality of attributes into subsets having no common part by one attribute among the plurality of attributes and displaying the number of elements of the subsets in the form of a bar graph, comprising the steps of:
dividing each of the subsets into two regions on the basis of a more detailed division condition relevant to the attribute used for classifying the set into the subsets or a division condition relevant to another attribute among the plurality of attributes; and
displaying a bar graph in which a bar portion corresponding to each of the subsets is divided.
According to the present invention, a set of elements having a plurality of attributes is classified into subsets having no common part by one attribute out of the plurality of attributes. Then, each subset is divided into two regions on the basis of a more detailed division condition relevant to the attribute used for classifying the set or a division condition relevant to another attribute among the plurality of attributes. For example, a set of data having names, residences and ages as attributes is classified by the residential prefectures, and cities are arranged in the syllabic order by a detailed division condition relevant to the residence attribute used for the classification. By using a specified syllable as a division condition, the classified data (subset) is divided depending on whether its syllable precedes or succeeds the above syllable, or the classified data (subset) is divided by using the age attribute, other than the attribute used for the classification, as a division condition. Then, a bar graph in which the bar portion corresponding to the divided two regions of each subset is divided is displayed, and the properties, tendency and distribution of specified attribute values of a large amount of data are displayed by the bar graph. As described above, the bar graph that represents the properties, tendency and distribution of specified attribute values of the large amount of data can be displayed without requiring the user to perform calculation of the totaling or the like of the large amount of data for the divided display of the bar graph.
In an embodiment of the invention, the division condition relevant to the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is a threshold value within a range of a numeric value representing the attribute, and a slider area representing a range and a unit of the threshold value and a position of a slide section arranged on the slider area representing the threshold value are displayed.
According to the above embodiment, each subset is divided into two regions by the threshold value within the range of the numeric value that represents the attribute, and each subset divided into the two regions is displayed in the form of a bar graph. In this stage, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each subset into the two regions is indicated by the position of the slide portion arranged on the slider area on which the range and unit of the threshold value are indicated. Therefore, the range in which the threshold value (the value of a specified attribute) that characterizes the properties, tendency and distribution of a large amount of data can assume, the relative position of the threshold value in the range and the unit of the threshold value can be easily recognized by the slider area and the slide section.
In an embodiment of the invention, detailed information of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets is displayed by a shape that represents a feature of the elements or an attribute that the elements own.
According to the above embodiment, the detailed information of the elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of the subset is displayed by the shape that represents the feature of the elements. For example, in a bar graph comprised of elements having attributes representing the features of individuals, photographic face images representing the features of the elements are displayed. Otherwise, the detailed information of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of the subset is displayed by an attribute owned by the elements. For example, in a bar graph comprised of a set of elements having the attributes of names, residences, ages and the like representing the features of individuals, the attributes of names, residences, ages and the like are displayed. As described above, by displaying the detailed information of the elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of the subset, the features of the noticed elements can be easily recognized.
In an embodiment of the invention, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area, each of the subsets is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, and a bar graph of the redivided subsets is redisplayed.
According to the above embodiment, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing the subset into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area. Then, the subset is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, and a bar graph of the redivided subset is redisplayed. Therefore, by the simple operation of sliding the slide section on the slider area, the threshold value (the value of the characteristic attribute) that makes conspicuous the properties, tendency and distribution of a large amount of data can be varied.
In an embodiment of the invention, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area, each of the subsets is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, a bar graph of the redivided subsets is redisplayed, and detailed information of elements belonging to either one of the redivided regions of each of the subsets is displayed by a shape that represents a feature of the elements or an attribute that the elements own.
According to the above embodiment, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing the subset into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area. Then, the subset is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, and a bar graph of the redivided subset is redisplayed. Further, the detailed information of the elements belonging to either one of the redivided regions of the subset is displayed by the shape that represents the features of the elements or an attribute owned by the elements. Therefore, by varying the threshold value (the value of the characteristic attribute) that makes conspicuous the properties, tendency and distribution of a large amount of data through the simple operation of sliding the slide section on the slider area, the state in which the features of the noticed elements change can be easily recognized.
In an embodiment of the invention, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is determined so that the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets is kept approximately constant.
According to the above embodiment, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing the subset into the two regions is determined so that the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of the subset is kept approximately constant. Therefore, the threshold value that characterizes the distribution of the specified attribute of a large amount of data can be simply determined through calculation and displayed in a form that allows easy recognition.
In an embodiment of the invention, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is determined so that a ratio of the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets relative to the number of all the elements of the set is kept approximately constant.
According to the above embodiment, the threshold value of the attribute for dividing the subset into the two regions is determined so that the ratio of the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of the subset relative to the number of all the elements of the set is kept approximately constant. Therefore, the threshold value that characterizes the distribution of the specified attribute of a large amount of data can be simply determined through calculation and displayed in a form that allows easy recognition.
The present invention also provides a program storage medium that stores a program for implementing the bar graph displaying method stated in any one of the above invention and embodiments.
According to the present invention, the bar graph displaying method of either one of the above invention and embodiments can be stored, transported and circulated by implementing the method not only in the form in which the method is incorporated in a specified one information processing apparatus but also in the form of an independent storage medium obtained by separating a program for executing the bar graph displaying method from the specified one information processing apparatus.